If you are an employer or worker in Santa Barbara County facing
a layoff or closure, please contact your Rapid Response
Coordinator, Alma Janabajab at a.janabajab@sbcsocialserv.org.

What is Rapid Response?

Rapid Response is a cooperative effort between the Local
Workforce Development Area Rapid Response Coordinator, America's
Job Center of California (AJCC), and the Employment Development Department
(EDD) to assist employers and workers during a mass layoff or plant
closing. Rapid Response teams disseminate information on
the adult and dislocated worker programs available under Title I of
the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA), the
America's Job Center of California (AJCC), and Unemployment
Insurance programs. The primary purpose of Rapid Response is to
enable affected workers to return to work as quickly as possible
following a layoff or to prevent layoffs altogether.

HOW DOES IT BENEFIT AN EMPLOYER?

Providing Rapid Response services to your workers during layoffs
or plant closings results in multiple benefits to employers, such
as:

Higher productivity and worker morale and lower absenteeism
during layoff event due to reduced stress

Lower unemployment insurance costs as workers are re-employed
more quickly when services are begun prior to layoff

Better public relations for an employer. Rapid Response can work
with the media to highlight services an employer is providing to
its workers during a layoff period

If the dislocation is the result of foreign competition or
foreign relocation, the dislocated worker may be eligible for
assistance, income support, job search assistance/relocation and/or
training under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA).

The primary purpose of Rapid Response is to enable affected
workers to return to work as quickly as possible following a
layoff, or to prevent layoffs altogether. The Rapid Response
team is lead by the Rapid Response Coordinator and our
partners:

· Employment
Development Department

· America's Job Center
of California Partners

· Department of Social
Services

· Department of
Rehabilitation

· Business
Representatives

WARN Provisions

The California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification
(WARN) provisions provide protection to employees, their families
and communities by requiring employers to give affected employees
and other state and local representatives 60 days notice in advance
of a plant closing or mass layoff. An overview of the
general parameters of the law is available however
employers should carefully review the California WARN provisions
and the
Federal WARN law for a full understanding of the
notification requirements to employers.